D.B. Grady
In recent months, Speculative Fiction Junkie might as well have been called Strange Fiction Junkie since reviews of weird fiction have predominated here lately. This does not mean, though, that I've lost my fondness for works of science fiction and fantasy or that I don't occasionally yearn to read something besides weird fiction. I was glad, therefore, when a novel came my way that promised to simultaneously be a work of science fiction and a noir detective story; a "Raymond Chandler mystery in a Robert Heinlein world," as a press release for the book described it. That novel was Red Planet Noir by debut author D.B. Grady, part of which was written in Afghanistan while the author was serving there as a U.S. paratrooper.
Red Planet Noir is the story of Mike Sheppard, a broke private eye who has no clients and is just barely scraping by until he gets hired by an attractive woman on Mars to solve the murder--deemed a suicide by the locals--of her father, a powerful man on the Red Planet, which is run by the Air Force. As he works the case, Sheppard finds himself traveling all around a dystopian Mars and as far as the asteroid belt. Along the way, he meets all sorts of people, many of whom wish him harm of the fatal variety, and even gets embroiled in interplanetary political upheavals.
This book isn't just a science fiction story with noir trappings. The story and prose itself are completely and authentically rooted in the noir tradition. But even so, the science fiction elements are a bit superior to the noir elements in my opinion, even if the latter are ever present.
The most interesting part of Red Planet Noir is the Orwellian vision of Mars under the governance of the Air Force and the interplanetary political picture that Mr. Grady paints. While the primary mover of the plot may be a noir detective story, I actually found the detective-trying-to-solve-the-murder plot thread to be almost inadequate to the task of moving the book forward. Instead, I found myself reading on to learn more about Mars. The book starts a bit slow in my opinion but abruptly picks up around the seventh chapter when Mr. Grady presents a version of the history of the settlement of Mars. From this point on, the book is in many respects reminiscent of Heinlein's truly excellent The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.
Overall, Mr. Grady's prose has a polished quality not always displayed by debut authors, but the book does contain an unfortunate surfeit of sentences like "It endured because it was hard, and it was hard because it endured." These of course have their place in noir works but I felt like they were used a bit too much in this book. Furthermore, from a structural standpoint, I sometimes felt that the book struggled to adequately juggle all of the multifaceted elements it brings up.
Despite these criticisms, however, Red Planet Noir is on the whole an enjoyable book that I hope will lead to more stories about Mike Sheppard. While not a perfect book, it is a worthwhile start from an author who seems capable of going far.
[Edit: I forgot to mention that I absolutely love the cover illustration!]
Rating: 7/10
The True First
Red Planet Noir was first published by Brown Street Press in 2009.
[This review was not based on a review copy]
2 comments:
I thought D.B. Grady displayed a marvelous command of the English language. I believe the sentences you criticized were intentionally made abundant in this novel, as that is how he character thinks and speaks. We are reading the story from the detective's perspective, not from an omniscient or semi-omniscient non-character narrator. Those are part of the style of this piece, and the tone set by Mike Shepphard, the narrator. D.B. also adds humor throughout the novel, which I think is worthy of comment. Though we know the main character will solve the murder mystery in the end, D.B. does not give away too much information, and the reader tends to solve it in unison with the characters. Thanks D.B.-looking forward to the second novel.
Do you know whether there is a second novel in the works?
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